It’s been way too long since I had anything to say about pens, ink, & paper. Pity, that…
Fortunately, I’ve recently been able to lay my hands on a couple of new pens, some new ink, and a few new notebooks. Few things are as viscerally enjoyable as using a fountain pen to lay some good ink down on a nice, high-quality piece of paper!
The Pens: While I like fountain pens, and certainly appreciate what makes good ones “good”, I’ve never been that enamored of the mid-to-high-end of the market. I much prefer finding values in the lower end of the pen market. Fortunately, there’s always lots to look at & work with in the sub $30 range, particularly if you like to bargain hunt.
Quick Note: for those who might even blanche at the cost of that range, taking into account the total cost of ownership, a sturdy fountain pen, refilled with a good ink, is cheaper than disposable rollerball/gel pens, and, if you use Noodler’s Ink (like I do) a heck of a lot safer against fraud, too!
I’ve just found Pelikan’s latest iteration of the venerable Pelikano school pen, and it’s proven to be outstanding. I had an earlier version of the Pelikano, and it was a little smaller, lighter, and not as rounded as this new design. Personally, I like the new design a lot. I got the “A” nib, which is the “Beginner’s” nib sized in between Pelikan’s Fine & Medium nibs. I thought it would be an interesting change of pace, and it’s turned out to be quite nice. It lays down a wonderfully smooth, wet, and nicely sized line of ink on the page. I got it from JetPens.com – recommended!
The Inks: I’ve long been a fan of Noodler’s Ink, and nothing has happened to change that. Great inks, great colors, and great features — Durable Inks that are: Bulletproof, Eternal, Water Resistant.
Bad Blue Heron and Borealis Black are two recent-to-new offerings from Noodler’s that just jumped out at me. Bad Blue Heron, in particular, just grabbed me. Getting the right blue ink has always been a bit of a quest, as I’ve never been a fan of the classic Waterman’s Florida Blue (it’s always been a bit too bright and/or purple for my taste…). Thus, I’ve always tended to the blue-black end of the spectrum. Problem is, it can be hard to differentiate that from black. Recently, then, I’ve wanted to get a little brighter blue into the mix, and Bad Blue Heron looked like it might do the trick. Well, it does! And it brings a whole lot of other good stuff to the table as well (just check out it’s web page). The important thing, though, is that it writes like a dream, is gorgeously saturated, dries quickly, and doesn’t feather at all, even on the copy paper that I use in the laser printer!
Borealis Black is another entry in my seemingly never ending quest to find a deep, dark, saturated, truly BLACK black ink. The good news is that it looks to have met my criteria thus far. It. Is. BLACK! It is also very easy to write with, it flows wonderfully from the nib, it dries nicely, but it does feather a tiny bit on the copy paper from the laser printer. Per the Noodler’s web page, though, it is not meant to be Bulletproof or Eternal by current standards, but it is pretty tough nonetheless. I think it’s going to fit the bill nicely.
The Notebook/Paper: Paper is always a tough thing to find. In some ways, it’s the most important part of the equation. You can have a great pen with the best ink, but if your paper sucks, then you are S.O.L. I’ve tried Moleskine journals. Frankly, the paper is not that good. Rhodia makes some good paper, although it takes a bit too long for ink to dry on it, and they don’t make the format of notebook/journals that I like. Clairfontaine makes great paper, but they only seem to put out spiral bound notebooks that don’t have enough pages (i.e., not a good value…). What to do, what to do…
After much searching to find an alternative (and, trust me, when it comes to journals/notebook/paper, there are lots of opinions out there!) I was able to finally come across mention of the Piccadilly Notebooks. These notebooks were highly spoken of as alternatives to Moleskines, that were not only cheaper, but were also just plain better values because they have more pages, better quality paper, better binding, and (depending on one’s preferences) better/more versatile covers (e.g., hardcovers). This sounded really good to me. So, after checking out the Piccadilly website and seeing that they were sold at Borders, I drove out to get a couple. I’m pleased to report that, on pretty much every point, the Piccadilly notebooks are better than the Moleskines that I’ve used, most especially that which I consider to be paramount — paper quality!
So, after not all that much sturm und drang (considering how I can get when I start obsessing over things like pens, ink, and paper), I think that I’ve got myself nicely squared away for the time being. The Pelikanos are staunch workaday pens, Bad Blue Heron & Borealis Black are quite possibly the best, and most aesthetically pleasing, inks I’ve come across to date, and the Piccadilly notebooks are stellar values & a pleasure in which to record my thoughts.
-ghp
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